Home Businesses Grow Using Social Media

After talking to ColderICE founder John Lawson about how he uses social media in his online home business, picking him as the No. 1 Savviest in Social Media in the 2009 StartupNation Home-Based 100 was a no-brainer. But for Lawson, it’s the social media that’s a no-brainer. Even though his first fore into the realm was only last year, when he signed up for Twitter in an attempt to boost the Home-based 100 votes on his other online home business, he’s since become an avid user, proponent and expert.

When discussing social media, Lawson regularly references a 1970s Faberge Organic Shampoo commercial featuring Heather Locklear. The freshly showered blonde touts, “This shampoo is so good, I told two friends and they told two friends and so on and so on.”

“That is social media!” Lawson exclaims. “It’s simply networking, media, marketing—what we’ve done is put social in front. Web 2.0 is just the vehicle to [engage] these concepts that have been around since man walked the Earth.” He also points to eBay as an older platform of social networking, with its feedback options. Being a frequent seller on eBay, Lawson credits his experience there to why his transition to using current social media for his online home business was so seamless.

GET TALKING

Needless to say, Lawson did not make it into the top 100 last year, but he did come out with a newfound appreciation for social media—and a new online home business. Atlanta-based ColderICE (Internet Commerce Education) is an e-commerce education portal that started out as a Twitter account where Lawson would post informational articles on e-commerce. He earned a significant number of regular readers and word spread—11,500 followers today—which quickly turned into a blog, speaking engagements, training sessions, a radio show and more.

Though Lawson believes Twitter was even a little obscure just last year, 11-year-old PerkettPR joined in 2007, as one of the first PR agencies to establish a corporate entity on Twitter, says founder Christine Perkett, the Runner Up in the 2009 Savviest in Social Media category. She got to see the web and media slowly evolve to what Web 2.0 and social media are today. Because of that, her Boston-based company has been on the forefront of the technology, using different social networks and tools for both her home business and its clients. “We have always executed social media; it just wasn’t called that back then,” Perkett says, echoing the sentiment of Lawson. “[Early on] we joined the conversation and shared our story. Now we’re all learning and sharing and teaching.”

“It’s about building a relationship with the group,” agrees Mike Whaling, a social media expert and president of social media marketing company 30 Lines. “There’s an investment in reading other people’s blogs, commenting on posts and getting involved in the community.”

THE TRADE OFF

While engaging in social media does require a lot of time and honest commitment, it definitely doesn’t cost. And that factor is what has helped Phoenix-based FreeBirthdayTreats succeed today. Founder Julie Northrop hadn’t put much thought into using social media when she started her online home business last year. But she knew “if I’m going to get by in this economy, I have to do things on a shoestring budget, and social media tools let me do that,” she says. “It’s marketing at your finger tips. If you do it right, there’s not limit to what you can do with your online home business.” Ironically, FreeBirthdayTreats is a nationwide directory of birthday freebies.

Northrop’s choice tools are blog and Facebook, and like the others, she’s seen significant success with Twitter. FreeBirthdayTreats recently hosted a Twitter Birthday Bash and also did a campaign with the American Cancer Society. Earlier this year, Lawson used his Twitter network to help raise $2,100 in a breast cancer research campaign.

The ways our Savviest in Social Media winners are talking and networking and getting involved online, really speaks to the power of social media and Web 2.0—it’s definitely a no-brainer like Lawson blatantly stated earlier. Adds Perkett, “If companies listen, not just push information, they’ll see an entire word of opportunity to make better products, do better things and be better at everything they do.”